Coins of the States of the German Confederation in the 19th. Century

For those not familiar with the city - that tower is still there. Interestingly, when Frankfurt grew beyond the old wall and fortifications, they were torn down (as in many other cities), but this tower "survived" as one of few. The other tower, on the right, is the cathedral tower.

Totally irrelevant side note: Don't try getting a subway line at Eschenheimer Tor these days. That route, usually served by four lines, is closed for renovation during the summer vacation period, and not every visitor had been properly informed before, ahem ...

Christian

 

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Roughly in the middle of that Confederation phase, we had revolutionary times in some parts of Europe, and even in Germany. So in 1848 Frankfurt was also the location of a National Assembly that wanted to establish a united democratic Germany. However, the rulers in Prussia and Austria for example were against such concepts, and the old system was continued.

And in 1863? Note who is missing in the photo. Prussia did not want to get involved as the Fürstentag was an Austrian initiative. They wanted a united but Prussian-dominated Germany, without Austria which would have continued to be a rival ...

Christian

 

Go for it, Brandon! the 'Assembly of Princes' Gedenkthaler' is a very popular as well as nice coin.

 

Yes sir. Considering the technology of the time the engravers did a fantastic job. It seems like there are a lot of these on the market right now for some reason. Makes me wonder if someone found a stash of them.

 

Bayern 1847 3 Kreutzer. Not sure why the photo makes the obverse look copper.




Frankfort 1821 Heller

 

A very tiny 1 Kreuzer

Sorry for the terrible pics... it is actually in really nice shape.

 

This is a pretty amazing thread. Thanks to Eduard for starting and thanks to all for posting.

 

Hamburg 1809 32 Schilling




Prussia 1822 Pfennig

 

Very nice, guys. Thanks for posting!

 

A 2 Pfenninge coin struck in 1842 for Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.

Rudolstadt was a tiny principality of only ca. 940 km2 stuck between the large kingdoms of Bavaria and Saxony.
(One of very few slabbed coins in my collection of German States).

 

This coin in the denomination of 9 Grote was struck for the Earldom of Knyphausen and Varel in 1808.

The tiny Earldom of Knyphausen, located ion the area of what is now the city of Wilhelmshaven in Northern Germany, close to Holland, was too small to even be considered a formal member of the German Confederation of States. It just got swallowed in, so to speak.

Knyphausen did struck coins, most of which are extremely rare today.
This is the only collectible coin from Knyphausen.

 

Admittedly there are German "countries" that I have never heard of. Varel (the town), yes, but Knyphausen? Reminds me of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, from the movie "The Mouse That Roared".

Christian

 

I've posted this before FWIW.

 

That's one of my best coins of this era...
A beautiful 12 Grote of Bremen.

 

And another one of Bremen...a PL 36 Grote piece.

 

Grote, I mean, great! Side note - in these cases the "L." and "G." amounts are not some dual currency system but refer to the fineness of the pieces. "15L 14G" means 15 Lot 14 Grän. Whatever the weight of a coin was, would be divided - pure silver would have been 16L; the rest was usually copper. (Grän was the sub-unit; 1L = 18G.) Some time in the 1880s those non-decimal units were finally done away with ...

Christian

 

Excellent thread and beautiful coins. Thanks for sharing! Here are a few I have that meet the date criteria . . .

 

A tiny coin from Frankfurt/Main

 

Another 36 Grote piece, similar, but a different type.

 

I apologize for the duplication. Either I'm having ISP problems or Cointalk's server is.